The Chazz

Thanks Red Sox for the advice re Not getting sucked in. I will sell my GF tickets that I had obviously pre-purchased. Anyway, if you look at it as an optomist, you will notice that we are in the Top 8 and playing very ordinary football. If we continue to play that standard, of course you would expect us to drop out. Even if we improve our standard we could drop out. I know as well as anyone that it is only round 4. I apologise if I am seen to be getting too excitied for the liking of some. I take little milestones like these as progress. Others don't want to know about them until we are in a GF. Sounds like the Bailey-theory. I'm happy winning quarters, some of you just want to win games. Each to their own.

Evidence to back that up? I will only accept an artice from the Wonderland Times!

Maybe he reads Demonland, and listens to everyone bitching about our game plan, so he makes a public statement about how our game plan is crud, and that just sparks up MFC supporters, and that makes them want to sack Bailey, and then we should chase Malthouse, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Bomber = 2 in 10years (61% winning record). Think over the past 10 years, he has been a better coach than Malthouse. Are you talking about Malcolm Blight? Just kidding! But seriously, who are you talking about that's commentating?

Why? Well, for a start, why would Malthouse want to come to Melbourne? Why would we think Malthouse would be the best thing for Melbourne? Is it becuase he is the best coach at the moment? If we adapted that philosiphy, we would be changing coach every couple of years. While there is a strong case for people to argue differently, what is to say that Bailey isn't going to be the best coach in the AFL in 2013? Is it going to harm the club by giving him the opportunity to prove himself when the Club, not the supporters, are expecting us to challenge for a premiership? We are talking about being a team of the decade, well, I'll be happy to be the team of the 9 years if it means giving this guy a chance. Don't forget, in Malthouse's first stint as an AFL/VFL coach, his record was 7th, 3rd, 8th, 7th, 8th, 13th. That was when it was a top 5, and there weren't 17 teams in the league. His time at West Coast was fantastic, but he had an amazing playing list, to the point where I might have coached them to success! At Collingwood, it took him 10 years to get the team he wanted and to win a flag. Malthouse has been quite successful, and his sides have played a lot of finals footy. But I want my side to win a lot of premierships, and even at Collingwood, the most powerful club in the league, that had the best facilities for a massive chunk of the last decade, he still only managed 1 premiership. So, my question to you is, do you think Malthouse will come straight in and win a premiership at Melbourne? I'm doubtful, and history shows that it even takes him time to get there, unless you have a team with a lot of top players that were often subject to the rumours of getting additional help! Well, to some degree it wasn't being sarcastic when I suggested that if we want the best of the best we should target Thompson. His payout figure of his contract would/could be covered within his first couple of years when he wins us a premiership.

Don't think any of us positive people are getting ahead of ourselves (apart from assuming we will win this week - pardon me for thinking tha twe will win against a side that is around 200 points behind on aggregate in 2 games). The point I made was that it is a significant achivement to be (potentially) in the Top 8 for the first time in 5 years. Maybe it means we have had a softer draw this year as opposed to previous, probably is on paper, but you still have to win those games, and this year, more than previous, we are (regardless of how attractive/unattractive they have been).

Sorry, I thought while people were living in fanatsy land about thinking we would have Malthouse coaching us in the near future meant that I could join their strange, lonely little world. Thanks for bringing me back to normality!

Then why would we stop at Malthouse, why not throw Bomber Thompson the job? He took a team that were in a similar state as ours, and made them a powerhouse over many years. I would prefer Bomber over Malthouse. Obviously when Geelong offered him the job they didn't agree with your attitude (not saying it's a bad one) about employing the best of the best. Then all of a sudden, after a few years of heartache/rebuilding/whatever you want to call it, Thompson became the best coach in the AFL. It is an eerily similar path that we are travelling.

Every team has the game plan that will win them a premiership, just ask them. The team that executes it to the enth degree are the ones that generally come our premiers. As a few have mentioned, we saw what we are capable of when we execute it for an entire match against the Swans last year. Imagine when our boys are a bit older, stronger, etc so that they can execute it week after week after week. I'd imagine that our plan would be the one that everyone wants to play. Those that disagree, I hope you didn't sing the song after we flogged Sydney, because that my friends is the game plan that we will be playing in the next couple of years. So if you are sitting here critical about how we aren't acting like sheep and following our opposition, this thread has the potential to haunt you in years to come. FWIW - wasn't it last year when the On The Couch experts were complimenting us on the way we played? They brought up that chart comparing us to the dominant Geelong style (up the guts), then the dominant Colling wood style (around the boundary), and said how we have combined both styles and it's a good one.

Malthouse has coached for 27 years and won 3 flags, that's an average of 1 every 9 years. Dean Bailey is in to his 4th year, with his list in that time being of the poorest of standards, and facilities to match. Give DB a 2 year extension, give him the opportunity to coach in the first year of our so called premiership window. While he is still developing some areas, this is the first genuine year where he can put more expectations on the players in terms of results. At seasons end, I belive we will be fighting for a place in the 8, but will probably finish 9th or 10th. Next year he will have his young troops with an extra year under their belt, and an extra preseason. A finals spot next year is quite important. If he fails, then his replacement in 2014 will still have 6 years of some quality players and win a flag.

We'd be stiff not to win that match up though. As long as we're not coming from behind all day.

I'm amazed by the amount of people that couldn't give a rats about this. I bet you were the ones sitting in the stands some 6 or so years ago in about Round 16-ish, when they showed a live ladder after we won at the MCG, and we were on top. It has the same meaning as this, which to some is jack shite, but others it is a positive. Will it give players a bit of belief that no coach can teach? Maybe. Or maybe it's just the fact that Bailey is improving where this team is at and some don't want to admit it.

Bitter, bitter man. Apart from Davey, how long have those other guys, or should I say kids, been on our list? To be honest, Scully could fit in to that list - a few times last year, well, as many as Bennell, Tom probably didn't attack a ball tha twould make him fully proud. Add Morton too. As I said in a post recently, I heard a National level Rugby coach talk about how he was approached by an Aussie Rules team (not AFL level) to teach them how to tackle. He told the coach that tackling is 90% above the shoulders of the tackler. If they WANT to tackle someone hard, he can teach them the right techniques. If they don't want to tackle hard, he can only teach them so much. Was a very interesting way of looking at it.

In a couple of years, Jurrah has the potential to kick 18. Probably has it now but not quite enough support around him. Whenever it is, he needs to play 4 quarters of footy like he played in one quarter last week.

I heard the Roos, Healy and Sheehan talking about that the other night, and obviously there is 2 ways of looking at it, it will either work or it won't! Geelong leading up to their dominance had a game plan that the coaching staff thought could win a premiership. Their plan was totally different to other teams, and as a result, they copped some hidings. To the credit of Thompson, he stuck at it, to the point where he nearly lost his job over it, but the day the players were finally able to deliver it, it was an amzing thing (for them). Then all of a sudden, they were doing it consistently, and as they say, the rest is history. Collingwood have been the same for the past 2 years. They adopted their own style, with a lot of boundary line hugging. Not many, if any, other Clubs would play that style, but again, they stuck to their guns. I like the fact that our plan is different to the "normal". If ours is the same, it is far too easy for other teams to know how we play, but on the same token, we can easily understand how they are playing. However, when the opposition are so used to an opponent playing similar footy to the rest of their opponents, it can often be quite hard for them to adapt to a style that is totally different (like ours). As I said, it will either work or it wont. We DO need the players to execute it to perfection on a weekly basis, and until then, we will cop our fair share of hidings. But, as we saw against Sydney last year, when it clicks, it is a brutal beast. Bailey needs to have confidence in his ability, and not change because "we're different to everyone else". Who knows, in 2013 or 2014, it mught be our game plan that all the other teams are trying to copy. So people realise, there is no certainty that our current game plan will work. On the other hand, there is the same amount of certainty that if we change that it will win us a premiership. We have recruited players specifically for our game plan, so let them grow up and see what it can turn in to.

I appreciate that DWA, but it will be the end of Round 4, and it has been nearly 5 years since we were in there, regardless of what round it is. Just maybe it will give the boys a bit of belief when they can open the papers on Monday morning and we are in the first half of the table.

As mentioned in the OP. But it's like saying we were equal top before Round 1.

Am I reading between the lines too much when I saw that Tonya Harding was offered the GWS Number 1 Ticket?

I'd heard that he missed the preseason trip to Shanghai due to prior issues caused when he walks in to some of their shops.

Well, that's not nice. So disappointed for Tom.

I'm sure if you have a good think about it you will understand why I needed to clarify myself to you.

Obviously you haven't seen any of our games. JB has played quite well without starring. The problem with Bennell is that he doesn't have that X Factor like the other "brothers", therefore he probably doesn't stand out as much. HG - this statement in no means is intended to sound racist. The kid with the thyroid problem played half a game for the Casey reserves on the weekend. The injury list above is from last week, so I'm expecting those injuries to be reduced by a week. The current list hasn't been published by the Club, so Tom shouldn't be 4 weeks away (fingers crossed).

Not many will belive this, but providing we defeat the GC on Sunday, which let's face it, we will, the MFC will be in the top 8 for the first time since 2006. Regardless of what the other results are for the round, we will be 7th at worst by the end of the weekend, with the only other possibility of us going to 6th if North beat Freo in WA. This will be the first time with Dean Bailey in charge, that we have been in the Top 8, so well done MFC supporters, and well done Dean Bailey, Jim Stynes, Cameron Schwab, etc. It has been a long time since we have been in that position, and while it may only be for one week, a lot has happened over the past 5 years, and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Nb. We were 8th at the end of Round 1, but only because of alphabetical order. This week it will/should be becuase of our actual results. Yes, I do suffer from premature jubilation!

Would love to see Gysberts go head to head with Swallow.

http://www.afl.com.au/tabid/208/default.aspx?newsid=95886 Let's hope the issue with Sylvia isn't related to the above. He is definitley being trouble by it though.